Synopsis
"The Whole Town's Talking" (1935) is a Columbia crime comedy by John Ford — watch it online on iFILM. The whole premise rests on Edward G. Robinson playing two men who share an identical face: timid office clerk Arthur Jones and the wanted killer Mannion.
Jones has never been late for work, never caused a scene, never drawn any kind of attention. Then one morning he oversleeps, gets fired, and promptly gets arrested for being Mannion. The police hand him a pass so the mistake won't happen again. Mannion steals the pass. Jean Arthur plays a quick-tongued reporter who understands the situation faster than anyone else in the room, which keeps the film from curdling into pure farce.
Robinson never lets the two characters bleed into each other — the clerk flinches where the gangster would grin, and you always know which one you're watching even before the scene tells you. Ford moves through 93 minutes without a slow spot. Stream "The Whole Town's Talking" (1935) online on iFILM.
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